Last time, we looked at the classic Child’s Play. This week, we move to rural Texas and look at the grimy but iconic film Texas Chainsaw Massacre, directed in 1974 by Tobe Hooper. This film stars Marilyn Burns as protagonist Sally Hardesty and Gunnar Hansen as Leatherface. This movie follows a group of southern teenagers that, during a road trip, find and explore an old abandoned house. They soon discover, however, that the house isn’t abandoned– it instead belongs to a family of cannibals, including the massive, silent, skin mask-wearing Leatherface. This movie was the start of a massive franchise consisting of 9 total movies, and made Leatherface an icon in horror culture. Note that this blog will talk about some pretty gross things (real serial killers, dead animals, etc.) so feel free to skip this one if you’d like!
This film was marketed as being based on true events, but this is only vaguely accurate– a majority of the movie, including all characters and events therein, is entirely fictional. The main villain was based on a real serial killer named Ed Gein (also called the “butcher of Plainfield”) who, in the 50s and 60s, was known for mutilating
the corpses of his victims and wearing a human face as a mask. It was also partially inspired by Elmer Wayne Henley, who was the serial killer responsible for the Houston Mass Murders of the early 70s, which claimed almost 30 lives. Finally, the actions of Charles Whitman– who shot a total of 45 people at the University of Texas, killing 14– had some (reported by Hooper himself) influence on the director’s interest in horror films, as he was on the campus at the time of the shooting.
Despite its gruesome origins, Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the origin of many popular slasher tropes, including the use of power tools as murder weapons (with the chainsaw), hulking faceless killers, and the trope of a cannibal family, which was used in other later franchises like the Wrong Turn series. It possibly inspired aspects of the classic Silence of the Lambs, such as the serial killer’s tendency to wear human skin.
The creation of Texas Chainsaw Massacre was extremely low budget, and this is reflected in the actual filming of the movie, which involved long days in the intense Texas summer heat. As part of the “atmosphere,” the general set included fetid cheese and dead animal parts, which– combined with the costumes of the actors, which weren’t washed for weeks at a time to give more continuity– created such an intolerable smell that several crew members were made violently ill. Though the film is relatively low on gore, Marilyn Burns unfortunately received 
the brunt of the violence on set; there were multiple mishaps when it came to filming violent scenes, which resulted in her finger being cut open and her passing out after being repeatedly struck by one of the cannibal actors. Production designer Robert Burns (no relation to the main actress) made sculptures of bone and fake skin, as well as hanging several real animal bone decorations around the cannibals’ house to provide atmosphere; though gross, his contributions are truly impressive, and definitely stick out in a low-budget film like this one.
The film follows the “final girl” trope that many similar movies feature, in which one girl out of a group is the only survivor (often due to her ability to outsmart the killer), which one can observe in movies like Halloween. However, unlike Halloween, Texas Chainsaw’s Sally escapes more out of dumb luck than wit, and is significantly more injured and chased than Laurie; because of this, many people have criticized the latter film for being misogynist and taking advantage of female suffering, as opposed to Laurie’s status as a feminist figure. Whether Texas Chainsaw can truly be seen as misogynist is certainly up for debate, especially amid scores of other “final girl” movies, but is an important debate to have.
Though generally nasty, for lack of a better word, in both its origins and actual creation, Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an extremely significant film in the horror genre. It’s definitely grimy, but it really gives a sense of realism to the scares, and the lack of blood and gore in the movie actually contributes to the sense of suspense and overall unique tone. I’d give it a 6/10 and definitely suggest a watch, if only because of the movie’s cultural impact!